Genetically Modified Foods

[changed]

Do you or anyone in your family have severe allergies? intestine or stomach trouble? reproductive problems? Energy deficiencies? Alzheimers? Autism? All of the above have skyrocketed in the last decade.... I guess the list is pretty long - in short - if you are having any health troubles of any kind, and live in the US or in another country that uses GM foods, you might want to try an organic diet for a month or so to see if it helps you.

The below video will only be available until Sept 22nd.

Genetic Roulette MovieGenetic Roulette | The Gamble of Our Lives

Here's another nice website on how to avoid GM foods:

http://www.nongmoshoppingguide.com/

The above vid really is worth the watch, there is something going on with the health of Americans right now that is very scary, and I do think GM foods are a big piece of that puzzle... spend extra on organic, or spend extra on doctors bills? I'll spend extra on organic.

[urroner]

Hmmm, spend extra on organic or spend extra on doctors bills, is it possible this is a false dichotomy?

[changed]

Is it too much to ask that you watch the vid before you comment on it? ... I think it really is worth the watch.

[Saints Alive]

Just remember correlation does not prove causation. Yes the incidence of these diseases have increased but so has the population and a throng of other third variables. The medical establishment has found no significant difference between organic and non-organic foods.

[thesometimesaint]

Chemically speaking is only one non organic "food" we eat, and that is a rock sodium chloride. Commonly called salt.

We don't know the causes of the spike in those diseases. It could be environmental, something we eat or don't eat,. They could be a reaction to some other factor(s) in the environment. It could be just a fragment of the test, we are now looking for them, so we see more. Or there could be an actual rise in the percentages for some unknown factor. More research needs to be done. What can the average lay person do? Actually quite a bit. Obviously if you're allergic to something don't eat it, but just as importantly try to eliminate it from your home. Limit, or eliminate, your use of known toxins. Take care of your physical, psychological, and spiritual needs. Above all else be happy. Those that are happy generally live a longer, more productive, and more fulfilling life.

What we normally refer to as organic simply means grown without the use of man made chemicals such as herbicides, pesticides, and non naturally occurring fertilizers. Even a small garden can produce enough organic fruits and vegetables to add variety to the diet, a slightly larger garden can produce all the fruits and vegetables a family can eat. A small farm will produce enough to sell.

It is true that if you eat a well balanced diet from a variety of sources there isn't much nutritionally different between organic and non-organic foods. However anyone whom has tasted a good vine ripened heirloom tomato from their own garden after eating those 90 mile per hour wonders found in the local mega mart sure knows the difference.

[Saints Alive]

It is true that if you eat a well balanced diet from a variety of sources there isn't much nutritionally different between organic and non-organic foods. However anyone whom has tasted a good vine ripened heirloom tomato from their own garden after eating those 90 mile per hour wonders found in the local mega mart sure knows the difference.

That is the one thing I will give organic foods, generally the quality is better. I think that is more from the care organic companies put into their produce than the fact that the don't use chemicals.

[changed]

I just spent the morning gardening in a friend's yard - my hands smell like basil .

I do think that GM stuff is giving some people trouble though - not everyone, but some. I think any time you introduce a new food that your system is not used to, there can be trouble - some people will adapt to the new foods, others seem not to be faring so well...

Food that is desigend to rupture the stomachs of insects that eat it, very well might not be so good on our stomachs as well...

"Corn plants genetically modified (GM) to produce pesticides in their tissues are contaminating water supplies across the US Midwest..."

Learn more:

http://www.naturalnews.com/030959_GM_corn_insecticides.html#ixzz271gSMg1v

That Monsanto is running the FDA right now is a huge conflict of interests too... (Monsanto makes billions off of GM foods, pesticides, insecticides etc. etc. so it is in their best interest not to label it, and to say it's safe)... http://www.smart-publications.com/articles/lies-and-deception-how-the-fda-does-not-protect-your-best-interests/

What kills fish and insects - seems like it would be bad for us too...

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/07/110718141618.htm

I don't think it's just correlation - there are many who are saying causation, watch the vid - they site credible sources.

[thesometimesaint]

changed:

All we have right now is a good correlation. That doesn't make it any less true, but it is just a correlation. Unfortunately there will likely be more casualties before it is established as causation. In the mean time we should do what we can to limit our exposure.

[urroner]

Some birds can eat arsenic and remain very healthy, but we can't.

We can eat chocolate all day long and just get fat, but if a dog eats chocolate, it can't die. The theobromine that is in chocolate is poisonous to dogs.

So what if Monsanto makes billions off of GM food and defend it and say that it's safe. If they believe that it's safe, should they cave in to the radical environmentalists and stop producing it? Most of the complaints I have heard about Monsanto tends to be emotionally based.

Do the people who are the most ardent fighters against Monsanto have clean hands and a honest agenda and only seek the truth? From what I can heard, they don't.

It's like the climate changers who blame man for most of the "change" in the climate. They profess clean hands, yet more often than not, their actions aren't pure, nor is their agenda. Suppose the climate was changing, they haven't been able to demonstrate in a solid fashion that it's mankind causing the change, it could simply be the Earth is going to the part of the cycle where the it warms like it's done before and there is nothing we can do to stop it.

For me, it's a matter of trust. I don't trust Monsanto completely, but I trust those who oppose Monsanto even less. Most of the complaints I have heard from the opposers of Monsanto stems from psuedo-science.

[Mola Ram Suda Ram]

They came out with a report about organic foods and how they are not any "healthier" than non organic foods in terms of nutrition and how they interact with the body. The only major difference was the use of pesticides and that seems to be the only negative if you can call it that.

It is also important to note that they have redefined austism and some of the other "issues" of our day. That plays a large role in why they are skyrocketing.

[urroner]

They came out with a report about organic foods and how they are not any "healthier" than non organic foods in terms of nutrition and how they interact with the body. The only major difference was the use of pesticides and that seems to be the only negative if you can call it that.

It is also important to note that they have redefined austism and some of the other "issues" of our day. That plays a large role in why they are skyrocketing.

Also, with the autism upswing, it has been determined that the older the man is when he fathers a child, the bigger the chance the child will have autism and men are waiting longer these days before they "weigh" themselves down with children.

[thesometimesaint]

urroner:

We have an essential vitamin thiamin that is based on cyanide. That doesn't mean we should eat a bunch of cyanide. Does it?

Other than its effects on my waistline chocolate is food of the Gods. But I still wouldn't feed it to my dogs. I also don't run on all fours trying to nip at the tires of a moving car either. That isn't healthy for a dog either but they do it anyway. Aspirin is an effective rat and cat poison, but we still use aspirin for a variety of human ailments with few negative side effects.

We don't know the effects of long term use of plants that produce their own pesticides have on the human body. Some preliminary studies show conflicting results. So whose food should we put into our bodies? There are also the suicide plants. The first generation is fine, but the second generation is sterile meaning that farmers must buy more seed from Monsanto. Talk about a captive market. What effect does that have on bees that pollinate a great deal of our food? No one knows for sure, but some studies suggest it is a factor in colony collapse. For the average home gardener that isn't much a problem. We can switch varieties, or buy from different seed companies. The large scale farmer normally doesn't have such options.

The issue of anthropogenic global warming is settled science. We are the main contributor. There is plenty we can do stop and eventually reduce our carbon footprint before we exceed the 2 degrees C increase that is already in the pipeline.

See How to talk to an Ostrich

https://www.google.com/search?q=you+tube%3A+how+to+talk+to+an+ostrich&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-beta

Trust but verify.

Scientists constitute a very small segment of our population. Other than vote like every other citizen can do. All they can do is tell(publish) the effects/results that they find from the experiments they conduct. They have to leave it to the activists and politicians to advocate for and implement what they see as the best public policy taking into the considered statements by scientists. Powerful Senators like James Inhofe are captives of the oil interests. Do you really expect to get much science from him, let alone a favorable vote to reduce let alone limit carbon emissions?

[Calm]

Just remember correlation does not prove causation. Yes the incidence of these diseases have increased but so has the population and a throng of other third variables.

Better tests for one thing.

My neurological disorder was written about in the 16th century, 'discovered' in the 1950's IIRC, but not paid attention to at all for possible treatment and diagnosis until the 1990s and now they are saying that at least 10% of the population has it (though not severe) and there are still a lot of doctors out there that don't know how to treat it or even that it is not 'all in the head' of their patient.

[changed]

OK - here's the big long wiki on it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_food_controversy#Health_risks_and_benefits_of_consuming_GM_food

Sounds like most of the studies are done by Monsanto, and sorry, but I will not trust studies that are not independent. Why are Europe and Japan not using GM foods? People in the US are allowing themselves to be lab rats....

"due to restrictive end-user agreements, independent researchers cannot obtain GM plants to study" - that makes me very suspicious... why are they not alowing independent researchers if they have nothing to hide?

""as a result of restrictive access, no truly independent research can be legally conducted on many critical questions regarding the technology".^[283] Scientific American noted that several studies that were initially approved by seed companies were later blocked from publication when they returned "unflattering" results."

etc. etc. etc.

[Tacenda]

Also, with the autism upswing, it has been determined that the older the man is when he fathers a child, the bigger the chance the child will have autism and men are waiting longer these days before they "weigh" themselves down with children.

Recently in my local news they reported Utah as having the highest autism rates.

[Tacenda]

Dbl post

[thesometimesaint]

Tacenda:

The prevalence of autism in the states monitored by CDC varied widely, from a high of one in 47 in Utah to one in 210 in Alabama. Experts said that variation likely reflected differences in awareness of the disorder among parents, teachers and even physicians, as well as differences in the availability of services, rather than any true "hot spots" of autism.

[Tacenda]

Tacenda:

The prevalence of autism in the states monitored by CDC varied widely, from a high of one in 47 in Utah to one in 210 in Alabama. Experts said that variation likely reflected differences in awareness of the disorder among parents, teachers and even physicians, as well as differences in the availability of services, rather than any true "hot spots" of autism.

That's a view I didn't think about. So the parents, teachers and physicians weren't able to detect it as quickly as people in Utah? I didn't think of that happening, are you just making assumptions here or has it been proven? What experts? It sure didn't mention this concept on th news release.

[thesometimesaint]

Tacenda:

http://articles.latimes.com/2012/mar/30/local/la-me-0330-autism-rates-20120330

[poulsenll]

Thousands of people suffer food allergies from non GM foods. Some people, including myself, find some normal foods, like asparagus, literaly poisonous. As a research biochemist in the field of toxicoligy, I have spent over thirty years studying how the body responds to the toxic compounds found in all plant derived foods. One of the characteristics of plants is that in order to survive and propogate, they must prevent or discourage animals, including humans, from eating them before they reach maturity and produce fruit or seeds. A prime example is "little green apples". Everybody knows that you dont eat apples before they are ripe because they make you sick. Genetically modified foods have been part of the human diet ever since Luther Burbank produced over 800 new varieties of edible fruit.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luther_Burbank

Luther Burbank (7 March 1849 – 11 April 1926)^[1] was an American botanist, horticulturist and a pioneer in agricultural science. He developed more than 800 strains and varieties of plants over his 55-year career. Burbank's varied creations included fruits, flowers, grains, grasses, and vegetables. He developed a spineless cactus (useful for cattle-feed) and the plumcot.

Burbank's most successful strains and varieties include the Shasta daisy, the Fire poppy, the July Elberta peach, the Santa Rosa plum, the Flaming Gold nectarine, the Wickson plum, the Freestone peach, and the white blackberry. A natural genetic variant of the Burbank potato with russet-colored skin later became known as the Russet Burbank potato. This large, brown-skinned, white-fleshed potato has become the world's predominant potato in food processing.

It is not surprizing that there are reports of negative reactions to GM foods, however, were any control studies reported.

Fear of GM foods falls into the same category as fear of irradiated foods, non organically grown foods and anything created by science.

Larry P

[Tacenda]

Alzheimer's runs high in my family. My mother got it at 62. So I do try, a little, to be proactive. Any information is helpful. And I do have a mother in law that would agree with the OP wholeheartedly. She is into natural homeopathic means of treatments and also making sure to prevent disease vs. treating disease. I'm sure her cupboards would reflect well according to the video the part where the family got rid of all the food in their cupboards. Also, I noticed alot of the people in the video were connected to the network of specialists that my MIL would go to. They spoke of enzymes etc. and my husband is on enzymes ever since he had his gall bladder removed because the homeopathic doctor recommended it to him. So several on the video would be the type that would say flouride in water is bad too. I'm still up in the air on it though. My mother was very doctor oriented.

[Calm]

That's a view I didn't think about. So the parents, teachers and physicians weren't able to detect it as quickly as people in Utah? I didn't think of that happening, are you just making assumptions here or has it been proven? What experts? It sure didn't mention this concept on th news release.

Utah...well, at least some school districts from what I've been told by parents...has in place some decent programs for diagnosis. Other states may lack these. Add to that lack of educational programs for parents...

My understanding is that Utah parents tend to be more involved in their child's schooling than many states. This would allow a parent to observe their child in different environments...again helping to bring to their awareness any disability.

News programs and releases are unfortunately lacking in much detail. I prefer reading my news which allows me to seek out several sources for additional information, notably specialist journals, the actual studies being cited, etc.

I see that TSS's article addresses this well:

The federal agency found that Utah, which has widespread screening programs, had the highest rate—1 child in 47. The state was closely followed by New Jersey, which prides itself on its autism services, at 1 in 49.

At the bottom was Alabama, one of the poorest states in the country. Its autism rate fell 20% between 2006 and 2008 — from 1 in 167 to 1 in 208.

CDC officials acknowledged the limitations of their analysis. In surveillance areas where researchers had access only to health records, and not school records, prevalence estimates were generally lower. Including the capital city of Raleigh in North Carolina's surveillance area dramatically increased the state's rate.

"Our study really is more of a study of demographic differences and population differences," said Jon Baio, a CDC epidemiologist and principal investigator on the report.

The researchers hope, however, that the study will draw attention to the need for more vigorous screening early in children's lives. Research shows that early intervention offers autistic children thebest long-term prospects

More than a fifth of children identified as autistic by the CDC had no autism diagnoses in their records.

[Calm]

Alzheimer's runs high in my family. My mother got it at 62. So I do try, a little, to be proactive. Any information is helpful. And I do have a mother in law that would agree with the OP wholeheartedly. She is into natural homeopathic means of treatments and also making sure to prevent disease vs. treating disease. I'm sure her cupboards would reflect well according to the video the part where the family got rid of all the food in their cupboards. Also, I noticed alot of the people in the video were connected to the network of specialists that my MIL would go to. They spoke of enzymes etc. and my husband is on enzymes ever since he had his gall bladder removed because the homeopathic doctor recommended it to him. So several on the video would be the type that would say flouride in water is bad too. I'm still up in the air on it though. My mother was very doctor oriented.

Are you part of an online support group? Finding a group that includes those actively seeking out research and education is a literal lifesaver for many, including myself and my neurological disorder. It should be a group that studies traditional Western medicine options as well as alternative or Eastern so you can find out about all options.

[Calm]

Autism seems to be a high concern among Utahns:

http://www.abc4.com/content/news/slc/story/Autism-screening-available-at-home/FT38OctLH0O663eI0yJkJg.cspx

MCHAT screening, and resulting scores were not available to parents at home until now. Lineagen, a Utah company teamed up with the evaluation authors to make sure parents have access to it earlier, because they say, time matters. Michael Paul, PhD, from Lineagen says early intervention is the key to better outcomes

[Tacenda]

Are you part of an online support group? Finding a group that includes those actively seeking out research and education is a literal lifesaver for many, including myself and my neurological disorder. It should be a group that studies traditional Western medicine options as well as alternative or Eastern so you can find out about all options.

No, not right now. I'm glad you found the help you needed. That would be so difficult, your situation. I don't know if it would do me any good but maybe. I thought about getting tested and then getting on something like Aricept if I do have it. My cousin was diagnosed recently with it and she's only 60, I'm 50 so in my mind I have 10 yrs. left. But someone told me never to do that or I wouldn't be able to qualify for Long Term insurance. I kinda doubt it's true. Plus that insurance is so darn expensive. I've thought to myself and I wish I were kidding, that I'll go sky diving when my memory is bad and forget to open the shoot. Very serious about this especially after witnessing my mother go through hell for 10 yrs. An interesting thought is that I may have it now and that's my excuse for my disbelief. I'm just going a little crazy is all. My husband has accused me of acting like my mom when she was showing signs. He has even said I have it, especially when I'm obsessed with finding out if the church is true after my faith crisis.